Crest water diversion system

ABSTRACT

A sand bag filler device attachment for vacuum trucks with conveyor-ramps for placement is disclosed. The apparatus consists of commercially available vacuum tuck with vacuum arm, conveyor-ramps and with the sand bag filler device attached. It can be retrofitted to the vehicle or attached temporarily, dependent on the needs of the operators. The bags can be tracked delivered or spring delivered on a bag conveyor to the device that is in position to open the empty bags with it&#39;s filler doors and insert the filler mouth inside to deposit the source material, this instance sand. The filled bags are then deported down controlled conveyor-ramps that can be raised or lowered or swivel to the left or to the right for bag placement.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is cross-referenced with application Ser. No.29/156,419 filed Feb. 28, 2002 and is now U.S. Pat. No. D484148 Sand BagFiller issued Dec. 23, 2003, invented by Roderick T. Floore, Ollie S.Walker III and David L. Williams. The Sand Bag Filler deposits sand intocontainers or bags to create walls or levees.

INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC

[0002] “Not Applicable”

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

[0003] “Not applicable”

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0004] Field of the Invention

[0005] This invention relates to devices and apparatus for assisting inrepelling flood or cresting water by filling containers or sand bags anddeporting completed sand bags for placement to build walls or levees inan expeditious and less manual labor intensive manner.

DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART

[0006] A machine that assists or augments the filling and placing ofsandbags would introduce a concept that has not changed in decades.Temporary protection from flood or cresting water must be expeditiouslyimplemented to protect lives and property. Large numbers of volunteersand laborers would employ the outmoded labor intensive opening andholding of bags for the sand to be inserted by hand or shovel. Thefinished bag must then be placed in position that adds another timeconsuming element. The U.S. Pat No. 5,215,127 (Bergeron) appears toconvey source sand from a conveyor and distributes sand through a tubeor pipe. The bags are to be placed and held on a stand to receive thesand. It does appear to have several tubes for several laborers toreceive, tie and then place the bag in position. The U.S. Pat. No.3,552,446 (Garden) receives source sand from dump tuck to the fillingdevice. Again, as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,127 (Bergeron) a laborer isneeded in position to hold the unfilled bag with a second laborerstationed in what appears to be for the sealing or tying of the finishedbag for placement. Directing sand from the dump truck can be introduceda number of ways that are just as fimctional and feasible. The U.S. Pat.No. 5,806,576 (Sutherlin) appears to allow multiple bags to be filledsimultaneously The tying of the bags is part of the device andrudimentary but ftmctional. An integral part of thc system to place thefinished bag does not appear evident. The system may not be portable orable to be retrofitted to add mobility. The U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,849(Fields Jr.) appears to have mobility. There are aspects for seatedoperators to receive the finished bag. This will continue to be laborintensive as time introduces fatigue. Placement of the finished bag doesnot appear part of the mechanism. The U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,407 (Hogan etal) appears to fill multiple bags simultaneously. It appears stationarywhere mobility and flexibility may be a factor. The finished bag doesnot appear to be conveyed for placement. How many laborers to operatethe system does not appear evident.

[0007] There is a need for a device that is simple in construction andcan be applied or retro-fitted, if necessary, to existing technologiesfor operation and can introduce speed in the configuration of thesand-bags and eliminate fatigue in the placement of the filled bags. Thesystem should supplant the need for large numbers of volunteers ,whosuccumb to fatigue which slows the process needed to fulfill the task ofthe sand bag configuration to protect lives and property from flood orcresting flood water.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] The commercially available vacuum truck with conveyor-ramps hasthe filler device attached. The filler device receives soirce sand thatis on site or that can be transported to the location of the flooding orcresting water. The vacuum arm of the vehicle sucks the sand up and itgoes to the device that takes a pre-determined amount of the sand andsends it through material feed shaft that is attached to the fillermouth. The filler mouth is receded in the housing behind the fillerdoors. Commercially available self sealing or self closing sand bags areconveyed under the filler door and the device opeas the bag and depositsthe pre-set amount of sand into the bag. Once filled and closed(selfsealing or auto-sealing) the bag is released on a conveyor-ramp thatdeports it to the rear of the vacuum truck vehicle for rapid placement.The truck has controls that can raise or lower the conveyor-ramp orallow it to swivel left or right. This allows for terrain or sites thatare not structured for simple placement of the bags. The operation canbe initiated by two or three laborers which eliminates the laborintensive number of laborers of other systems or devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTJON OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009]FIG. 1 is view of sand bag filler attached to truck in use;

[0010]FIG. 1a is cut away view of sand bag filler with empty bag inposition below filler;

[0011]FIG. 1b is cut away view empty bag in place with filler openingbag and filler mouth in position;

[0012]FIG. 2 is side view of sand bag filler;

[0013]FIG. 3 is side view of sand bag filler, mouth doors open, fillermouth shown. (note: track wheel, hydraulic intake and outtake tubespositioned differently to show device configuration versatility)

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0014] Refening to FIG. 1 with source sand 50 suctioned up throughvacuum arm 40 of truck 4l to sand bag filler of FIG. 1a and FIG. 1b ofFIG. 1. To view the operation of the filler we refer to FIG.2 where theinvention consists of elbow pipe 5 with intake tube 6 and outtake tube 7attached to elbow pipe 5's side by clamps 8 and bolts 9. The intake tube6 and outtake tube 7 has hydraulic fluid inside.( fluid not shown) Thehydraulic fluid going through intake tube 6 is controlled by intakeregulator 11 that is fastened to intake tube 6 by tube connector 10.From the intake regulator 11 the hydraulic fluid enters the wheel intaketube 14 that is connected to intake regulator 11 by tube connectors 13.The hydraulic fluid now passing through wheel intake tube 14 and causesdrive wheel 19(gear wheel) to spin around drive axle 20 on acounter-clock wise rotation. The drive wheel 19, sitting atop trackwheel 21(large gear wheel) causes track wheel 21 to spin around thetrack axle 22. The track wheel 21 aligned on a tack(not shown) that ispart of the mouth shaft 26 and this clockwise rotation of the trackwheel 21 pushes the mouth shaft 26 upwards to the feed tube 27 that sitsinside of the mouth shaft 26.

[0015] Referring again to FIG. 1 source sand 50 is suctioned inpredetermined amounts and fed into elbow tube 5 to travel to feed tube27. The mouth shaft 26 is on a piston upward movement to receive thepre-determined amount of sand 50.

[0016] Referring back to FIG.2 the outtake tube 7 receives hydraulicfluid that is controlled by an outtake regulator 12 fastened by tubeconnector 10. The hydraulic fluid then leaves the outtake regulator 12going to wheel outtake tube 15 fastened to drive wheel 19 by tubeconnectors 13 The fluid in the wheel outtake tube 15 causes the drivewheel 19 to spin in a cloclcwise rotation around the drive axle 20. Thisclockwise spin causes the track wheel 21, that the drive wheel 19 sitsatop, to spin in a counter-clockwise rotation along the track(not shown)of the mouth shaft 26 causing it to piston downward with pre-determinedamount of sand 50.

[0017] Referring to FIG. Ia showing device with empty bag 60 below andin position to be opened by filler doors 23 of FIG. 1b and FIG. 3 toexpose filler mouth 29 of FIG. 3 to fill the bag 60. This piston up toreceive sand 50 and piston down to deposit sand 50 is repeated on acontinuing basis till wall or levee is completed and will need minimumnumber of operators to continue replenishing bags 60 to allow formaintenance in the event of mecl cal failure. It should be noted theempty bags 60 can be quickly track loaded 61 thus not impeding thedevice operation where speed is necessary. Completed bags 60 aredeported down conveyor-ramp 70 for expeditious placement refer toFIG. 1. The conveyor-ramp controls 80 can also be in the cab of thetruck 41.

We claim:
 1. A sand bag filler device attachment for commerciallyavailable vacuum trucks with conveyor-ramps comprised of an elbow pipeconnected to suction housing of the truck that vacuums source material,this instance sand, through a vacuum arm. The elbow pipe is fastened atit's base by a feed shaft that receives a pre-determined amount of sand.2. The sand bag filler device attachment of claim 2 has hydraulic intakean outtake tubes that are attached to the side of the elbow pipe bybolts and clamps that have hydraulic fluid inside(not shown).
 3. Thesand bag filler device attachment of claim 3 has the hydraulic intakeand outtake tubes of claim 2 fastened to intake and outtake regulatorsthat control the amount of hydraulic pressure fluid and joined to theintake and outtake tubes of claim 2 by connectors.
 4. The sand bagfiller device attachment of claim 4 has the intake and outtakeregulators of claim 3 fastened to wheel intake and outtake tubes byconnectors that receive the hydraulic pressure fluid that has beenregulated.
 5. The sand bag filler device attachment of claim 5 has wheelintake and outtake tubes of claim 4 are connected to the drive wheel byconnectors and receive the controlled hydraulic fluid that spins thedrive wheel in a clockwise or counterclockwise rotation around the drivewheel axle.
 6. The sand bag filler device attachment of claim 6 has thedrive wheel of claim 5 atop the track wheel (track wheel and drive wheelare gear wheels)and when the drive wheel spins it's rotation causes thetrack wheel sp ig along the track axle to spin, counter-clockwise whenregulated intake fluid is sent to the wheel intake tube and clockwisewhen regulated outtake fluid is received from the wheel outtake tube. 7.The sand bag filler device attachment of claim 7 has the track wheel ofclaim 6 aligned to the mouth shaft that has a track(not shown)that thetrack wheel travels to drive the mouth shaft up when the track wheelspins in a clockwise direction and sends the mouth shaft in an updirection.
 8. The sand bag filler device attachment of claim 8 has themouth shaft of claim 7 piston up to meet the feed tube that has thesource material, this instance sand, in a pre-determined amount.
 9. Thesand bag filler device attachment of claim 9 has feed tube of claim 8feed pre-determined amount of source material, this instance sand, tothe mouth shaft that the feed tube is inserted inside, with the mouthshaft capable of sliding or piston up and down the feed shaft with thesource sand material.
 10. The sand bag filler device attachment of claim10 has the mouth shaft of claim 9 with the pre-determined amount ofsource sand coursing through the mouth shaft to the mouth housing thatthe mouth shaft is inserted inside and it also has the capability topiston up and down inside of the mouth housing.
 11. The sand bag fillerdevice attachment of claim 11 has the mouth shaft of claim 10 with thebase of the mouth shaft becoming the filler mouth.
 12. The sand bagfiller device attachment of claim 12 has the filler mouth of claim 11 inposition of filler doors, which comprise the base of the mouth housing.13. The sand bag filler device attachment of claim 13 has the fillerdoors of claim 12 above the empty bag to be filled with source sand thathas been received from the mouth shaft and coursing down to fillermouth.
 14. The sand bag filler device attachment of claim 14 has thefiller doors of claim 13 open the top of the empty bag and when open thedoors expose the filler mouth that is inserted into the open bag todeposit pre-determined amount of source sand.
 15. The sand bag fillerdevice attachment of claim 15 has the empty bag that has been filled byfiller mouth of claim 14; and these bags can be transported by track orspring loaded in multiples awaiting to be positioned to be filled by thefiller mouth of claim
 11. 16. The sand bag filler device attachment ofclaim 1 that is attached to a commercially available vacuum truck withconveyor-ramps that receives the filled bag of claim 14 to deportoutside the vehicle for placement.
 17. The sand bag filler deviceattachment of claim 17 with the completed bags traversing theconveyor-ramp of claim 16 with the outside controls of the conveyor-rampraising or lowering the conveyor-ramp, or being able to swivel left orto the right for the bag placement.
 18. The sand bag filler deviceattachment of claim 1 of FIG. 2 has rear belt 16 and front belt 28 forstability.